As with any bony structure, the spine is subject to various pathologies that compromise its load bearing and support capabilities. The spine is subject to degenerative diseases, the effects of tumors and, of course, fractures and dislocations attributable to physical trauma. In the past, spinal surgeons have tackled the thorny problems associated with addressing and correcting these pathologies using a wide variety of instrumentation and a broad range of surgical techniques. For example, in spinal surgeries, the fusion of two or more vertebral bodies is required to secure a portion of the spinal column in a desired position. Alternatively, the use of elongated rigid plates has been helpful in the stabilization and fixation of the lower spine, most particularly the thoracic and lumbar spine.
The cervical spine can be approached either anteriorly or posteriorly, depending upon the spinal disorder or pathology to be treated. Many of the well known surgical exposure and fusion techniques of the cervical spine are described in Spinal Instrumentation, edited by Drs. Howard An and Jerome Cotler. This text also describes instrumentation that has been developed in recent years for application to the cervical spine, most frequently from an anterior approach.
The anterior approach to achieving fusion of the cervical spine has become the most popular approach. During the early years of cervical spine fusion, the fusions were preformed without internal instrumentation, relying instead upon external corrective measures such as prolonged recumbent traction, the use of halo devices or minerva casts, or other external stabilization. However, with the advent of the elongated plate customized for use in the cervical spine, plating systems have become the desired internal stabilization device when performing stabilization operations.
It has been found that many plate designs allow for a uni-corticaly or bi-corticaly intrinsically stable implant. It has also been found that fixation plates can be useful in stabilizing the upper or lower cervical spine in traumatic, degenerative, tumorous or infectious processes. Moreover, these plates provide the additional benefit of allowing simultaneous neural decompression with immediate stability.
During the many years of development of cervical plating systems, particularly for the anterior approach, various needs for such a system have been recognized. For instance, the screws used to connect the plate to the vertebrae must not loosen over time or back out from the plate. This requirement, that the bone screws do not loosen over time or back out from the plated, tends to complicate implantation of known plating systems. Such bone screw retention systems generally ensure that the bone screws placed into the vertebrae through the plating system do not back out voluntarily from the plate, but typically do not adequately permit the removal of an associated bone screw when desired by the surgeon.
It remains desirable in the pertinent art to provide a bone screw removal system for use with a plating system that addresses the limitations associated with known systems, including but not limited to those limitations discussed above.